Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino talks to guard Russ Smith (2) near the end of the second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats at FifthThird Arena. Louisville defeated Cincinnati 58-57. / Frank Victores, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

AT THE WATER COOLER: Louisville coach Rick Pitino and his players have decided not to shave their facial hair with a "grow our beards until we lose" approach.

The way the Cardinals (23-4, 12-2) have been playing lately, there may not be a need for a razor in March. Louisville has won six games in a row, most recently clipping AAC leader Cincinnati to move to the top of the league standings. With one more win (Thursday vs. Temple), the Cardinals could close out February without a loss.

With all the attention on former No. 1 Arizona, previously-unbeaten Syracuse and currently-unbeaten Wichita State, have we forgotten about the defending champs? It's not as if the Cardinals were written off, but we can't talk about Florida's veteran-laden, cohesive group without also turning the focus to a similarly stocked team loaded with championship experience.

Of course, going into the season there was plenty of back-to-back hype for this squad. While Louisville's four losses - North Carolina, Kentucky, Memphis and Cincinnati - weren't particularly glaring, the omission of a key victory was missing from its résumé up until Saturday. In USA TODAY Sports' latest bracketology projections, Louisville holds a No. 5 seed and much of that is drawn from the team's RPI of 27 and SoS of 96.

We can dissect the Cardinals' NCAA tournament credentials all we want, but let's not ignore the potential here. Russ Smith has matured and changed his "Russdiculous" game for the better. Junior college transfer Chris Jones has been a capable replacement for Peyton Siva at the point guard position. Montrezl Harrell has blossomed into a productive big man on offense and defense and senior forward Luke Hancock is playing more and more like the Final Four MVP version of himself.

It's almost laughable to consider Louisville an underdog, but there's no doubt the defending champions have dodged much of the national spotlight.

No need for motivation, though. They've got beards for that.

BEST BET TONIGHT: Oklahoma will likely have a number next to its name once again by the time it takes the court Monday night at No.8 Kansas (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). But of more importance to the Sooners is their standing in the hyper-competitive Big 12 race. They enter the penultimate week of the regular season in a three-way tie for second with Iowa State and Texas, with Kansas State looming just a game behind. That matters little to the Jayhawks, who are looking to wrap up the top spot and possibly position themselves for a No. 1 seed in the tournament.

The Sooners are coming off an impressive win Saturday, avenging an earlier loss to Kansas State with strong performances from Buddy Hield and Isaiah Cousins. But the Jayhawks looked even better over the weekend, getting payback with a decisive rout of Texas fueled by Andrew Wiggins. Fellow KU freshman Joel Embiid was equally dominant on the inside. But the bigger concern for the Sooners might be Perry Ellis, who posted a double-double for the Jayhawks in their win in Norman that kicked off their Big 12 slate way back on Jan. 8.

NUMBER OF THE DAY: 1. Syracuse's 0-2 week means there will be a new No. 1 team when the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll comes out today. The inside track belongs to No. 2 Florida, which ran its winning streak to 19 on Saturday at Ole Miss. It would be the first view from the top for the Gators in the regular season since the poll of Feb 12, 2007. Florida did top the postseason rankings after claiming its second consecutive title, but entered the tournament ranked No. 3. Third-ranked Wichita State, the last undefeated team in Division I, could also garner some first-place votes. There's no rest for the Orange, meanwhile, who jump right back into action tonight at Maryland (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

WORDS OF THE DAY: "I just came out with the mindset in the second half that I wasn't going to be stopped. Once I made a couple shots, it kept going from there." - Michigan's Nick Stauskas, who scored 21 of his game-high 25 points after intermission in Sunday's win against in-state foe Michigan State. With the victory, the Wolverines swept the season series from the Spartans and reclaimed first place in the Big Ten.

DAYS UNTIL SELECTION SUNDAY: 20.

Scott Gleeson, a national college basketball writer/digital producer for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.